Newborn authorizations and baby names

At Anthem Blue Cross, we are always working to improve our processes to ensure we pay our providers timely and accurately. When it comes to newborn claims, we could use your help.

We recently analyzed newborn authorizations and discovered that those with a valid baby name were associated with 50% fewer problematic claims than authorizations without a valid name. However, only about 15% of newborn authorizations are submitted with a valid baby name.

By taking an extra moment to see if the parents have selected a name for their newborn and submitting that name on the authorization, you can help get those payments out the door faster. This is even more critical with multiple births. If the parents do not have a name, or there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from getting the baby’s name, we will continue to accept authorization requests for newborns without a valid name.

For more information on our Clinical UM Guidelines, view our Medical Policies and Clinical UM Guidelines page.